The ongoing debate across the country shows that the financial gap at the Central Bank (BDL) exceeds $55 billion taking into account the value of gold and BDL’s foreign currencies. The discourse in this regard often includes a lot of blame for the banks, claiming that they are the ones that had voluntarily placed the surplus of their foreign currency deposits with BDL because they were lured by lucrative and high interest rates that BDL was allegedly paying. Obviously, this story, which has spread like wildfire, has obscured many facts for its simplicity, and has become the prevailing story. It is useful, even a duty, to elucidate the facts regarding these placements, away from a truncated view and to ward off slander.
Subsidies eat up free reserves
The banks’ placements with BDL are divided into three categories of different scales: Mandatory reserve, placements imposed by the regulator, and voluntary placements decided by the banks’ management. The mandatory reserve, as is well-known, has been actively discussed in the media in the context of a polarizing debate over then still existing large-scale and
